Southeast Ohio hearing high-profile cases | News, Sports, Jobs

With high-profile criminal cases including an alleged attempted murder, an alleged murder, and other alleged sex crimes upon minors drawing eyes to the felony and misdemeanor courts of southeast Ohio, questions concerning court processes abound in public discussion.

A pretrial hearing was held Tuesday in the Noble County case of Tyler Thompson, 28, of 48569 Outpost Road, Caldwell, who is accused of the murder of his fiancee, Leah Brooke Hines, in March.

Thompson last appeared before Noble County Common Pleas Judge Kelly Riddle on April 20 for a bond and arraignment hearing, but Tuesday, neither Thompson nor his defense counsel appeared in person.

Noble County Prosecutor Jordan Croucher and Riddle noted that Thompson’s defense counsel requested the meeting to be held via telephone earlier this week and Croucher said the discussion in chambers net an additional motion.

“We’re going to file a motion to appoint the Ohio Attorney General as a special assistant prosecutor,” he explained, noting state involvement in the investigation already with the aid of the OAG’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation alongside the Noble County Sheriff’s Office. “We’re going to get the AG’s office in to assist us as well, we’ll still run it. But they are absolutely going to be involved.”

The hearing also outlined the next dates for additional appearance and discovery exchange between prosecution and defense counsel, Croucher said.

Riddle confirmed the case is still set to go to trial in June.

Lower and higher courts

Oftentimes, felony cases that see an initial arrest and felony criminal complaint by the arresting agency will see their first court appearance at a lower county or municipal court.

At the lower court level, probable cause can be reviewed alongside conditions of release from the local jail, if a defendant is released.

In Noble County, this appearance was waived in the Thompson case, resulting in his first appearance before a judge with legal counsel after a special grand jury met in Noble County in April and indicted him on one count of aggravated murder, an unclassified felony; two counts of murder, also unclassified felonies; and one count of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony; with all three murder counts, according to the indictment, including firearms specifications.

Croucher said the felony caseload, though increasing in Noble County in 2021, still generally requires the county’s grand jury to meet every other month (January and March most recently, see a future edition of the Times for review of those indictments and an explanation of secret indictments).

Thompson’s last appearance served as both a bond and arraignment hearing in felony court, and Riddle determined the prosecution sufficiently met the burden required to hold Thompson without a chance of bond or cash bail.

“The rules for setting no bond are very specific and restricted,” Croucher explained Wednesday. “It’s limited in those high felonies, felony one and felony two, homicides, some domestic violence.”

In felony cases, the arraignment of a defendant starts the clock on a time limit for pretrial motions and begins the process of discovery exchange between prosecution and defense attorneys.

“Discovery is all of the police reports, documents, things you tend to use in trial,” Washington County Assistant Prosecutor David Silwani recently explained. “The state and defense counsels have an ongoing duty to always send stuff to the opposing side that they intend on using … As long as it’s not work product or confidential, we send it in discovery and that’s to ensure there are no surprises.”

Silwani explained the exchange goes both ways, noting if the defense has evidence alleging an alibi, such information/documentation would also need to be shared with the prosecution.

“So first, a police report is what happened, (for example) it’s 15 degrees outside, the sky was blue, etc. They’re documenting what they did in the case,” Silwani described. “A witness statement where if you saw someone stealing and a deputy hands you a piece of paper and asks you to write that down, that’s (also) in discovery.”

But work product, he explained, is protected from the exchange.

“Work product is me taking notes on what I think the evidence shows me. Listening to CDs and marking what I think is important (in a police interrogation). Think of it like you’re taking notes in a class, that is work product,” Silwani said, noting questions to be asked during a potential trial are also not revealed in discovery.

Croucher noted discovery exchange has already begun in the Thompson case, but like the ticking clock in the pretrial motions, the constitutional right to a speedy trial time is also accelerated by Thompson’s continued incarceration.

“(Remaining) in jail, those days run three to one,” Croucher explained, noting the Ohio limit for time to bring the case in front of a petit jury is 270 days if Thompson was not still incarcerated, but, as Riddle noted last month that deadline is June 21.

Speedy trial time can be waived on record by defense counsel and is often noted to be waived in other cases like the alleged attempted murder of Devon Ours when assessments for competency or other factors play into complicated cases, but in the case of Thompson, no such waiver has yet been entered.

Janelle Patterson may be reached at [email protected].